Great letter I do wish the companies would read it because it sure does express what the shoppers are feeling just read the responses!
Thanks Steve you spoke the truth!!

That's a good letter Steve.

What really bothers me the most is not the grammatical errors, or unanswered e-mails, though that is problematic in itself, but the incessant lack of respect and regard they have for us shoppers. There is nothing worse than working for a dispatcher/scheduler who is hostile, unprofessional and thinks you should be "grateful" for the small bones they throw your way in the form of sub-standard pay fees, especially if you've been working for a company for several years.

I especially hate the companies that wouldn't even think of reiumbursing you for travel time or gas, like you are okay with surviving on next to nothing.. and then expected to RACE home, get online as fast as you can, not even eat a dinner or take care of your family, get all your photos & receipts loaded promptly and perfectly, yet you are expected to wait weeks and weeks to get your pay, or even KNOW they are going to pay you!

Like you are so insignificant as a human being, you are not regarded with the least amount of respect. But hey, if it wasn't for the mystery shoppers, movie checkers, auditors and all the rest of us, those dispatchers wouldn't even HAVE a job!~

SteveSoCal Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I live in L.A., so trust me when I say that actors
> get paid much better than us.
>
> Ironically, since I do mostly dining shops, it is
> often actors that I am evaluating. They are
> acting like servers and I act like a somewhat
> typical guest.
>
> It's the retail & banking stuff that makes me feel
> like a liar most of the time. That's why I avoid
> it. Nothing I hate more than having to pretend I
> have $50k I want to invest in this economy.
>
> I feel another rant about stupid instructions
> coming on....

I never really had to lie in a mystery shop assignment, but I feel more like a spy than a liar! Anyway, I'm only evaluating the type of treatment that me, as a customer is receiving, and if I'm spending money there, then I AM a customer! :)

I did a high end banking job where I said I was coming into an inheritence, and needed to invest. This was in Beverly Hills, and I was out of my league. That was the first and last of that type of job. I really felt like a liar, not an actress (which I pretend to be), we all have a little acting in out souls, but, down right lying is another thing. I wonder if the Banker could see through me.....which is where the acting comes in.

I did some of those. I felt bad taking up the rep's time, but didn't have any issues with it. I think I would in Beverly Hills though. I would feel like Jed Clamplett.

**********************************************************************
“Making mistakes simply means you are learning faster.”
~Weston Agor

A Bev. Hills address on a shop is equitable to "Fun & Easy" being in the subject line of the offering. The line will probably read, "High-paying," instead.

It usually just means more expensive (and un-reimbursed) parking, having to feign interest in an overpriced product, and employees that can smell a shopper at 100 yards. The additional payment is usually around $10, which is supposed to be an incentive for someone to show up in expensive clothing, a nice car, and have familiarity with the product.

I guess this should have been in my original rant, but please, when making up a pricing structure and instructions for high-end shops, try this out yourself and see if it's worth it. I don't mean try this at your local store, but drive into Beverly Hills, park, pull this scenario off, return the expensive car you borrowed, take the clothes you used to the dry cleaners, and tell me if that's worth $35.

The homeless in Beverly Hills make more money than that and they get to wear dirty clothes (I swear....I saw a 'homeless' guy on Santa Monica Blvd yesterday begging for change. The guy in front of me offered him a $5, but he could be bothered to take it because he was busy answering his Blackberry!)

SteveSoCal Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------

> The homeless in Beverly Hills make more money than
> that and they get to wear dirty clothes (I
> swear....I saw a 'homeless' guy on Santa Monica
> Blvd yesterday begging for change. The guy in
> front of me offered him a $5, but he could be
> bothered to take it because he was busy answering
> his Blackberry!)


Wow. The homeless here really are homeless, and look like it.

**********************************************************************
“Making mistakes simply means you are learning faster.”
~Weston Agor

A piece of the puzzle that mystifies me is when shop fees have gone down and payments are late so many of us will no longer take the jobs, why pay an outside scheduler in addition to your inside ones, to try to place the jobs? Would it not be simpler to get the fees back up to reasonable rather than hiring the outside help? I'm sure THEY don't work for free.

Re: some (not all) of the "payments are late" firms using schedulers. They probably make up some story, hire an outside scheduler,and screw them over, too.

I know that two schedulers for PRG were not paid. I'm pretty sure the ones Orilio used at the end got stuck, too. I wonder if the one JC used (as payments went later and later) got paid?

**********************************************************************
“Making mistakes simply means you are learning faster.”
~Weston Agor



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 03/14/2010 03:27PM by dee shops.

The pay to the scheduling company can be offset 90 days, like the shopper fees, and flaked on as well, as you have noted.

I think that most MSCs see the scheduling fees as a 'lost leader' to get new shoppers into their system. It's easy to move on when the scheduler is no longer bringing in new shoppers and keep the shop fee low.

It all fits together into the bad business plans that many companies (and shoppers) operate on.

Yes, I agree "bad business plans". While I guess in theory the outside schedulers could bring some reliable shoppers into the fold, since the particular company I'm annoyed with keeps lowering their fees, how long do they think they will keep the reliable ones brought in? If the job was almost fair to shoppers at $13, $12.50 is just abuse. And when it falls below that . . .

But you know they probably won't keep their good shoppers. And hence the circular race is on the find new good ones who won't know they might not get paid, or that the fee is too low. Thus the value of forum exchanges, so we can alert each other.

**********************************************************************
“Making mistakes simply means you are learning faster.”
~Weston Agor

Steve, I am just curious. How are scheduling firms paid? Is it flat rate, commission, etc?

**********************************************************************
“Making mistakes simply means you are learning faster.”
~Weston Agor

Dee...Are you hijacking my thread? :^)

It can vary with different scheduling firms, but the most common I have seen is a per shop fee of about $5. The key is how the "flakes" are negotiated. If a scheduler gets a deduction for each flake or rejected shop, you can get the pushy or hyper-involved scheduler. That can be either a blessing or a curse, depending on a lot of factors.

If a scheduler gets paid for just plugging a warm body into the shop either way, the shopper probably gets less grief from the scheduler and the MSC pays the price.

The first method tends to have the scheduler using the same shoppers over and over, so MSC's get peeved about that as well. I think that's one reason there are so many stressed out schedulers out there. They are between a rock and a hard place most of the time. My blood pressure dropped quite a bit when I walked away from scheduling.

(Edited for just typing too fast the first time around and not being able to live with the misspellings)



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/14/2010 09:40PM by SteveSoCal.

SteveSoCal Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Dee...Are you hijacking my thread? :^)

Who do you think you are, Steve? A cyber bully? Only NGJ owns threads around here. You ought to know that after she told us this weekend...LOL LOL LOL!

>
> It can vary with different scheduling firms, but
> the most common I have seen is a per shop fee of
> about $5. The key is how the "flakes" are
> negotiated. If a scheduler gets a deduction for
> each flake or rejected shop, you can get the pushy
> or hyper-involved scheduler. That can be either a
> blessing or a curse, depending on a lot of
> factors.
>
> If a scheduler gets paid for just plugging a warm
> body into the shop either way, the shopper
> probably gets less grief from the scheduler and
> the MSC pays the price.
>
> The first method tends to have the scheduler using
> the same shoppers over and over, so MSC's get
> peeved about that as well. I think that's one
> reason there are so many stressed out schedulers
> out there. They are between a rock and a hard
> place most of the time. My blood pressure dropped
> quite a bit when I walked away from scheduling.
>
> (Edited for just typing too fast the first time
> around and not being able to live with the
> misspellings)


Interesting. Thanks. :-)

**********************************************************************
“Making mistakes simply means you are learning faster.”
~Weston Agor